College Athletics

News about College Athletics, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Feb. 19, 2015

NCAA puts West Virginia University athletic department on probation for self-reported recruiting violations. MORE

Feb. 15, 2015

Profile of Houston Summers, 27-year-old junior at University of North Carolina who has already had short career as rookie pitcher for Arizona Diamondbacks; since his arrival at Chapel Hill in fall of 2013 as a 25-year-old freshman, Summers has his hopes set on becoming student body president while also aiming for medical school. MORE

Feb. 15, 2015

Increasing number of college-bound athletes are refusing to sign national letter of intent, document that makes decision binding according to NCAA rules; issue is part of national debate about recruiting that could give young athletes even more leverage; refusal to sign NLI is coming from experience of many young players who were personally recruited by college coaches who then took other jobs before school year even started. MORE

Feb. 14, 2015

College sports like swimming are threatened by NCAA reforms aimed at directing even more resources toward profit-generating programs like football and basketball. MORE

Feb. 10, 2015

Women’s Beanpot hockey tournament, started by Harvard coach Joe Bertagna in 1979, is not as well-known as men's tournament but is growing in stature; Boston College, Boston University, Harvard and Northeastern have Division I women's hockey teams that are starting to get more attention and equal treatment by athletic departments. MORE

Feb. 4, 2015

Letter from Harris Pastides, president of University of South Carolina, comments on Jan 28 editorial suggesting that many student-athletes at universities are in fact unpaid professionals. MORE

Feb. 4, 2015

Columbia University hires marketing executive Peter Pilling as its next athletic director. MORE

Jan. 28, 2015

Editorial expresses support for lawsuit filed by Rashanda McCants and Devon Ramsay against their alma mater University of North Carolina and the NCAA, alleging that they did not receive meaningful education due to their participation in athletic programs; maintains that NCAA knows that some student athletes are in fact simply unpaid professionals, and unless organization recognizes this fact, universities will continue to exploit system. MORE

Jan. 23, 2015

Class-action lawsuit filed against University of North Carolina by former student athletes Rashanda McCants, who played women's basketball, and Devon Ramsay, who played football, accuses school of academic fraud and failing to educate athletes; filing comes shortly after release of Kenneth L Wainstein's report, which found that many North Carolina athletes took classes that appeared to be shams. MORE

Jan. 19, 2015

Marc Tracy On College Sports column; NCAA appears to be favoring most popular and lucrative sports especially at schools in Big 5 conferences. MORE

Jan. 18, 2015

Jan. 18, 2015

Evaluations and pay of University of California coaches and athletic directors are now tied to academic performance of its student-athletes. MORE

Jan. 13, 2015

Joe Nocera Op-Ed column asserts first College Football Playoff has been a financial bonanza for the college football industry, including ESPN, schools, conferences and coaches; holds event is the most nakedly profit-oriented in history of college sports, and that it has created crisis in debate over status of amateur college players who are not sharing in the riches. MORE

Dec. 29, 2014

Colleges will sometimes lure top prospect players by hiring their former high school coaches, as Seton Hall did with its men's basketball coach Dwayne Morton and guard Isaiah Whitehead; strategy is permitted under NCAA regulations. MORE

Dec. 24, 2014

Glen Grunwald, former general manager of New York Knicks, is now athletic director at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, but says he may be open to possibility of returning to NBA; Grunwald was unexpectedly pushed out of Knicks despite his two straight winning seasons in 2012-2013. MORE

Dec. 18, 2014

NCAA hires Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck to fill newly created position of executive vice president for regulatory affairs; Luck will oversee all regulation for the association, including academics, eligibility and enforcement. MORE

Dec. 18, 2014

Federal Judge John Z Lee rejects proposed settlement of $75 million in class-action lawsuit against NCAA over handling of head injuries; questions scope of agreement and urges both sides to continue negotiating. MORE

Dec. 16, 2014

Joe Nocera Op-Ed column examines fallout after the elimination of football program at the University of Alabama-Birmingham by president Dr Ray Watts; observes school could simply not afford the additional $49 million it would have cost over five years to field a competitive team in its conference; supports decision and expresses doubt about conventional wisdom that fielding a team is essential for a university's overall mission. MORE

Dec. 14, 2014

Group of legislators and proponents of reform call on Congress to consider a presidential commission for college sports as NCAA issues pile up. MORE

Dec. 13, 2014

Universities are marketing packages for sports fans allowing them to connect directly with players and teams; winning bidders of online auctions in 2014 have watched games from press box, sat behind team bench or stood just outside end zone for final minutes of football games. MORE

Nov. 29, 2014

National Labor Relations Board continues to consider whether scholarship football players at Northwestern University qualify as employees; even if union vote fails, precedent set by the board will remain and could make path to unionization at other universities easier. MORE

Nov. 8, 2014

Baylor University Pres Kenneth W Starr, famous for investigating former Pres Bill Clinton in 1994, has returned to public eye defending NCAA's college sports programs, which have become political issue; believes that student athletes should not be paid and has testified against player unionization at House hearing. MORE

Nov. 3, 2014

Editorial warns that some universities are still not doing enough to protect athletes from lasting effects of head injuries; cites study published in American Journal of Sports Medicine that found 24 percent of National Collegiate Athletic Assn institutions have no process for annual athlete concussion education. MORE

Oct. 29, 2014

Decision by the Big Ten athletic conference to guarantee its athletic scholarships for four years represents shift in power toward college athletes; change is also seen as a move toward the spirit of amateurism, given the similarity between one-year scholarships and employment contracts. MORE

Oct. 25, 2014

Federal Judge Michael Shipp grants request by major professional sports leagues and the NCAA to temporarily stop New Jersey from allowing legalized sports betting in effort to ensure that issue is argued in court. MORE

Oct. 23, 2014

University of North Carolina releases report revealing that, between 1993 and 2011, two employees in African studies department presided over a 'shadow curriculum' designed to help struggling Tar Heels athletes, stay afloat; classes required no attendance, little academic work, and most were created and graded solely by an administrative assistant; NCAA officials have reopened an investigation following release of report. MORE

Oct. 23, 2014

Study published in American Journal of Sports Medicine finds that many universities have still not implemented all aspects of an NCAA policy requiring concussion management plans, four years after it was introduced; study finds many universities have introduced a plan but have not done enough to educate coaches and athletes on the risks of concussions and says they must increase size of sports medicine staffs. MORE

Oct. 18, 2014

College fishing circuit, which is not under NCAA umbrella, gives anglers chance to compete alongside professionals and win prize money without any consequences; University of Minnesota was awarded $30,000 for winning the 2013 college fishing national championship; Bassmaster Classic, which typically airs on ESPN and has an overall purse worth about $1 million, is open to any participant, college or professional. MORE

Oct. 3, 2014

All 10 universities in Colonial Athletic Assn request override of NCAA vote granting substantial autonomy to so-called Big 5 conferences, but are among only school nationwide to do so; objections from 75 universities are required to set off a process that could send vote to Division 1's nearly 350 institutions. MORE

Sep. 21, 2014

Marc Tracy On College Football column notes that Florida State’s decision to lengthen the suspension of star quarterback Jameis Winston may have come about because of an uneasy coexistence between big business and amateurism in the top tier of college sports. MORE

Sep. 6, 2014

Joe Nocera Op-Ed column criticizes Prof Randal S Thomas and Prof R Lawrence Van Horn study concluding that college football coaches are not overpaid because their jobs are similar to those of chief executives; says coaches resemble CEOs only in that they are overpaid; says high coach salaries at time of elevated tuition and negative athletic program revenues point to skewed values. MORE

Sep. 5, 2014

William C Rhoden Sports of The Times column observes that United States Tennis Assn's four-day college tournament at US Open is a clear statement that it has begun to view intercollegiate tennis as viable training grounds for pro ranks. MORE

Aug. 28, 2014

Profile of antitrust lawyer Jeffrey Kessler, who has filed a lawsuit against the NCAA and the major college athletics conferences that he says will take down the 'cartel' controlling college sports and will do away with rules against paying college athletes. MORE

Aug. 22, 2014

NCAA notifies United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that it intends to appeal judge’s ruling in Ed O’Bannon case that it had violated antitrust laws. MORE

Aug. 14, 2014

Editorial submits term 'student-athlete,' much discussed in course of O'Bannon case, is deceptive one with peculiar history; notes term was created in 1950s to protect colleges from paying players as if they were employees; holds description, with its implication that athletics come second to academics, should not apply equally to all college athletes. MORE

Aug. 14, 2014

Editorial applauds ruling by Federal Judge Claudia Wilken stating that National Collegiate Athletic Association ban on paying college players for use of their images violates anti-trust laws; holds decision is significant victory for college athletes; adds limits still exist that protect NCAA's procompetitive goals and prevent emergence of free-market system that would only benefit richest colleges. MORE

Aug. 14, 2014

Fresno State and other middle-tier universities must find way to adjust to changing NCAA landscape that seems destined to mostly help nation's top programs; Fresno State, with athletic budget of about $30 million, below that of 65 universities playing in the five richest conferences, cannot afford to pay its players or offer stipends. MORE

Aug. 12, 2014

Joe Nocera Op-Ed column examines how former sneaker marketer turned anti-NCAA crusader Sonny Vaccaro helped former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon bring his successful antitrust suit against the NCAA; holds decision will probably not radically reshape college sports but, if it stands up on appeal, it may cause NCAA to lose its ability to argue that amateurism as an ideal justifies anticompetitive behavior. MORE

Aug. 11, 2014

News analysis; Federal Judge Claudia Wilken may forever be remembered as the judge who helped reshape college athletics after her landmark ruling that NCAA cannot prevent college athletes from earning money, in what is known as the O'Bannon case; has a reputation as an intelligent, fair-minded, good-humored referee who prizes efficiency and directness. MORE

Aug. 11, 2014

NCAA announces plans to appeal ruling in the so-called O’Bannon case, in which a federal judge took the legs out from under most justifications for the amateur model and kicked the billion-dollar college sports industry further down the road to professionalization than anyone before her ever has. MORE

Aug. 10, 2014

News analysis; Judge Claudia Wilken, who declared that NCAA's longstanding amateurism rules are a violation of antitrust laws, tempers blow to NCAA by suggesting that universities pay athletes via trust fund that they can gain access to once their college playing careers are over, and that NCAA puts cap on how much institutions can offer each player. MORE

Aug. 10, 2014

William C Rhoden Sports of The Times column holds that Judge Claudia Wilken's ruling against NCAA in antitrust trial of former UCLA basketball star Ed O'Bannon will prove revolutionary for a commercialized intercollegiate sports system that masquerades as an educational enterprise. MORE

Aug. 10, 2014

Joe Nocera Op-Ed column asserts that NCAA vote to allow five richest conferences to play by their own rules does not constitute wholesale reform; predicts that vote will not shut off further reform, but is likely to be just the beginning. MORE

Aug. 9, 2014

Judge Claudia Wilken of United States District Court in Oakland, Calif, rules that NCAA must pay its college athletes, saying decades-old rule is violation of antitrust laws; issues injunction against current rules prohibiting collegiate athletes from profiting from use of their names and images in video games and television broadcasts. MORE

Aug. 9, 2014

Q&A addresses landmark decision in the so-called O’Bannon case finding that NCAA violated antitrust laws and opening door for college athletes to be compensated. MORE

Aug. 9, 2014

Critics of NCAA's decision to grant more autonomy to five wealthiest athletic conferences contend that new structure will increase financial disparity among university athletic programs. MORE

Aug. 8, 2014

Editorial contends National Collegiate Athletic Assn vote to allow five richest conferences greater autonomy is acknowledgment that college sports must change; contends decision will benefit larger, richer institutions greatly, and that smaller schools will find it hard to recruit top talent; holds decision shows that amateur ideal is no longer viable due to commercialization of college sports. MORE

Aug. 8, 2014

NCAA's Division I board of directors votes to authorize a new governance body for so-called Big 5 conferences--Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference, Pacific-12, Big Ten and Big 12--giving them power to raise value of scholarships, improve health insurance, allow players to consult agents and more. MORE

Aug. 8, 2014

Juliet Macur Sports of The Times column asserts that there is nothing fair, equitable, and arguably even sportsmanlike about NCAA voting to give richest five conferences autonomy to enrich scholarships, provide better health insurance and loosen strict relationship between agents and players in ways that few other nearly 300 Division I sports programs could match. MORE

Aug. 7, 2014

NCAA is expected to approve measure to give more autonomy to its five biggest conferences, Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference, Pacific-12, Big 10 and Big 12; some critics fear move will put an even greater emphasis on athletics, while others see it as opportunity to bring rules governing college sports up to date, and to have universities share more of the pie with athletes. MORE

Four years ago, St. John’s brought in a group of recruits that seemingly had the potential to return the program to the top tier, but now those seniors are still looking for their first N.C.A.A. tournament berth.

Collegiate sports like swimming that do not generate revenue are left feeling vulnerable as profitable programs like football and basketball take a bigger share of the profits created by blockbuster television contracts.